checkmate1

Straight edge is a movement from the hardcore punk scene. I listen to this type of music to get me through the hard times. As I am already a fan of hardcore and punk I have found a place where I belong. Where alcohol has no place in people's lives. I find stength here as people feel the same way as I do. Who listens to this music and what are your favourite straight edge bands?

Soberpotamus

I don't, but tell us some stuff you listen to... The bands. I'm interested in new music.

checkmate1

I listening to alot of terror at the moment. Agnostic Front, Minor Threat has a song called straight edge and that's where the term came from.

Love this song-

terror- less than zero

I can't believe you sunk this low, so low
You pushed too hard and lost control
Now death is reaching for your hand
and when theres nothing left
you start reaching back
Shoveling **** up your nose
Needle to your arm
Less than zero
The bottle calls
You run to it
and I need it too
anything to forget

Self destruct
You're killing yourself
You gotta fight
Pick yourself back up

And man I've been there too
Numbing my broken dreams
and the love that I've killed

You're killing yourself
You gotta fight or you will

Self destruct

I'm scared of me
I'm scared of you
because we will

Self destruct

checkmate1

minor threat- straight edge

I'm a person just like you
But I've got better things to do
Than sit around and **** my head
Hang out with the living dead
Snort white **** up my nose
Pass out at the shows
I don't even think about speed
That's something I just don't need

I've got the straight edge

I'm a person just like you
But I've got better things to do
Than sit around and smoke dope
'Cause I know I can cope
Laugh at the thought of eating ludes
Laugh at the thought of sniffing glue
Always gonna keep in touch
Never want to use a crutch

I've got the straight edge

iliveforyou

Don't know much other than Minor Threat sadly but would love to learn more. Music plays such a huge part in my life. I love the lyrics you posted!! Thanks for sharing

-Jess

Zencat

Having a music genres that supports a clean/sober lifestyle is nice Checkmate1.

I liked punk from the get go, still do some 35 years later. I remember straight edge coming around, wasn't ready to clean up my act then.

windysan

I listen to some straight edge stuff. Read Dharma Punx if you haven't already. It's 12 stepped/buddhist in nature but a good read.

AcceptingChange

Prolly know this one already...


I am the voice inside your head
and I control you
I am the lover in your bed
and I control you
I am the sex that you provide
and I control you
I am the hate you try to hide
and I control you

I take you where you want to go
I give you all you need to know
I drag you down I use you up
Mr. Self-destruct

I speak religion's message clear
and I control you
I am denial guilt and fear
and I control you
I am the prayers of the naive
and I control you
I am the lie that you believe
and I control you

I take you where you want to go
I give you all you need to know
I drag you down I use you up
Mr. Self-destruct

I am the needle in your vein
and I control you
I am the high you can't sustain
and I control you
I am the pusher I'm a whoar
and I control you
I am the need you have for more
and I control you

I am the bullet in the gun
and I control you
I am the truth from which you run
and I control you
I am the silencing machine
and I control you
I am the end of all your dreams
and I control you

I take you where you want to go
I give you all you need to know
I drag you down I use you up
Mr. Self-destruct

-NIN

recycle

+1 for Dharma Punx. Noah Levine put some wood on the ball, in a Zen sort of way, with that book.

checkmate1

I've read some books but not much of a reader but will definitely check out this book. Thanks.

recycle

Checkmate check out his website too, he has some dharma talks on recovery.

checkmate1

Agnostic Front- Addiction lyrics

i look in your eyes
i see through your disguise
your killing yourself
can i be idolized

DONT!
**** UP YOUR LIFE!
ITS OUT OF CONTROL!
NOW YOUR A VICTIM!!
YOUR LOOSING YOUR SOUL!
KILLING YOURSELF!
POISON YOUR MIND!
AND YOUR RUNNING OUT OF TIME!
OF WHAT YOU FADE AWAY!
HAVE YOU LOST SIGHT!
OF THE TRUTHS OF YESTERDAY!

time to open your eyes
cause you must realize
you, your not the same
your the only one to blame


DONT!
**** UP YOUR LIFE!
ITS OUT OF CONTROL!
YOUR NOT A VICTIM!
YOUR LOOSING YOUR SOUL!
KILLING YOURSELF!
POISON YOUR MIND!
AND YOUR RUNNING OUT OF TIME!
OF WHAT YOU FADE AWAY!
HAVE YOU LOST SIGHT!
OF THE TRUTHS OF YESTERDAY!
THROW THIS ALL AWAY!


SAVE YOURSELF!

**** THIS!
ADDICTION!!!(X2)

oak

I remember Minor Threat and 7 Seconds. Listened to both a lot. I never thought about it before but I wonder if the straight edge scene was partly why I first got sober at a young age.

Happy memories!

HuskyPup

I used to love early punk/hc, and did like Minor Threat.

Was MDC straight edge? I loved them, too.

I guess I mainly liked the social political stuff, and did not drink back then, started when I was a lot older. I used to/still love the Dead Kenndys, though.

I met the Buzzcocks, at a small after-show party once cause we knew the sound-man, with them and maye 6 other people...they seemed nice, very down to earth. Never met any other band before. I felt so special

shockozulu

I started listening to the Buzzcocks again recently when producer Martin Rustent passed on. That reopened my eyes to his work and Sythnpop in general after all these years. In fact I'm going off to see The Human League next month on a bill with Berlin and B-52s.

My musical tastes range from Aaron Copeland to the Human League to Kraftwerk and Peter, Paul and Mary. If it has a political/social message chances are I like it or at least given it a good listen. I'm probably one of the eight people that actually liked The League's Hysteria. My friend's considered me a traitor for liking The Lebanon and Louise. As if by liking those songs I am denying the art of their SythPop years(especially Dare!).

I remember the Dead Kennedys. My family revered both Bobby and John so I had to hide their records in the back of my LP cabinet behind Paul Young. :rotfxko

lund1982

I used to like Minor Threat & the other straight edge DC bands, but Listening to stuff like that often puts me in a bad place in my mind nowadays. I try to avoid anything that has too much of a black & white world view. When I was drinking that's what often got me into trouble, that sort of I am right & the world is wrong mentality. I know that I can't drink, but I am not going to act superior to others who do. I firmly believe in the AA slogan "Live and let live".

shockozulu

The music I prefer is that which explains why somethings in the world are wrong. Peter Paul and Mary's El Salvador comes to mind. That puts me in a thinking mood instead of a "the world sucks" B&W place which is bad for me as well.

These lyrics might give you an idea about what I mean. It could be about so many countries even today. Good music is never outdated. Perhaps I'm drawn to it because as a small child I grew up around Vietnam protest music, even in church ("Our communion hymn today will be 'If I had a Hammer'").

El Salvador (PP&M written by Noel Paul Stookey)

There's a sunny little country south of Mexico
Where the winds are gentle and the waters flow
But breezes aren't the only things that blow
in El Salvador

If you took the little lady for a moonlight drive
Odds are still good you'd come back alive
But everyone is innocent until they arrive
in El Salvador

If the rebels take a bus on the grand highway
The government destroys a village miles away
The man on the radio says 'now we'll play South of the Border'
And in the morning the natives say,
We're happy you have lived another day
Last night a thousand more passed away
in El Salvador

There's a television crew here from ABC
Filming Rio Lempe and the refugees
Calling murdered children the 'tragedy'
of El Salvador

Before the government cameras 20 feet away
Another man is asking for continued aid
Food and medicine and hand grenades
for El Salvador

There's a thump, a rumble, and the buildings sway
A soldier fires the acid spray
The public address system starts to play South of the Border
You run for cover and hide your eyes
You hear the screams from paradise
They've fallen further than you realize
in El Salvador

Just like Poland is 'protected' by her Russian friends
The junta is 'assisted' by Americans
And if 60 million dollars seems too much to spend
in El Salvador

They say for half a billion they could do it right
Bomb all day, burn all night
Until there's not a living thing upright
in El Salvador

They'll continue training troops in the USA
And watch the nuns that got away
And teach the military bands to play South of the Border
And kill the people to set them free
Who put this price on their liberty?
Don't you think it's time to leave
El Salvador?

Isaiah

YES!!!

I was very straightedge until I turned 22.

Savor the emotions of the straightedge musicians. They do not understand sobriety, they don't speak from any perspective of having "gone through it." But it's great, high-energy, positive music and take from it all you can!

Straightedge suffers mainly from a lack of experience. It offers a warning to the already sober, but not a realistic means of change for those who did fall into addiction. It's a great way for teens to contemplate the reality of drug use, but for those who are already in it then it has very little to say.

vinepest

I remember seeing Antiflag back in the 90s. It was in Chicago, and their singer was sick, so the backup guy filled in the lead role. It turns out he was even better! That was an incredible show.

Earth Crisis is neat when I want some loud madness. But for the most part my favorite punk bands are not anywhere near straight-edge. In fact Propagandhi I think is my favorite, and I'm pretty sure they drink plenty. But I don't mind that. I'm not looking to have everyone share my chosen lifestyle (not that I'm anything remotely punk in any case...).

JJK

awsome topic! mainly because this is the music i choose to listen to (for the most part).. im more into the late 70's to mid 80's sound.. american hardcore.. with minor threat being on top of my list.. but on the same hand.. circle jerks is as well.. and if you know anything about keith morris..

but i agree fully with lund.. just because these people/groups choose to abstain from substances doesnt necessarly make them positive people or good role models.. the music is angry, first of all.. then a lot of these people often substitute alcohol and drugs for other things such as hatred and violence.. (not saying ian mackaye has ever done this).. but in my last days, i was so happy this angry music was there for me.. in helped justify my anger and insnanity and everything i was doing..

i could also recall being very young and looking up to these sXe kids in my neighborhood.. not because of their beleif systems or the music they were into (i think most 90's to present day punk is ****).. but because they were skateboarding, doing graffiti, and destroying property.. i thought that was awsome, and still do to an extent.. but these same kids would beat up people who used or drank.. i even remember them jumping some kid at a bus stop for smoking a cigarette.. thats **** to me.. and i know theres diff types of edge; "posi-edge" and whatever, and that its saved/helped a lot of kids..

im seriously seeking other routes aside from AA at this point.. being edge is not a possibility.. there is no scene for that where i live now, and even if there were, i smoke cigarettes and drink tons of coffee religiously..

im just trying to be sober and happy.. im still combative, but i try to direct it in a way that i feel is justified, whenever im feeling that way..

i also am an avid jazz fan.. here lately been listening to a lot of led zep, jimi, etc.. but my playlist is mainly 80s hardcore punk, and i dont think thats going to change anytime soon..